Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) criticised the statement of the chairman of PakhtunKhwa Mili Awami Party (PMA) Mehmood Khan Achakzai and stated that people like him were the enemies of the state.

However, on the other hand the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) seconded the statement of Mehmood Khan Achakzai and opined that it was the real history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The ANP and QWP are of the view that Achakzai already made a statement to clarify the issue. Anyhow, Achakzai denied that he made anti-state statements while the ANP requested not to highlight the issue for the purpose of point scoring. When contacted, the General Secretary PPP Sardar Abdul Latif Khosa told Daily Times that the unholy nexus of the unquestioned members of the parliament should not ask Achakzai to issue a press release or answer on clarifying the status of the issue. This was the government’s responsibility to clarify the issue whether KP was the area of Afghanis or not.

There is a joint government of the PML-N and the PMA in Balochistan that’s why Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would have to resolve the issue in the parliament, he added.

The spokesperson of the JUI, Fareedullah Paracha told Daily Times that Achakzai’s statement had opened the secret that Achakzai was a strongly ally of the Afghanis and “we sturdily criticize his statement”. Answering to a question he said that the refugees from Afghanistan were now permanently residing in the state of Pakistan but the government had to take some serious actions in this regard.

The chairman of the Qaumi Wattan Party, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said that Achakzai already clarified his view so there was no need to criticise him adding “If we look into history, the Pathans had always belonged to Afghan nations”.